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The Mel Robbins PodcastThe Mel Robbins Podcast

How to Build the Life You Want (Even When You Feel Overloaded, Exhausted, & Uncertain)

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — Feeling overloaded, discouraged, and overwhelmed? You’re not alone. Today’s episode will show you how to keep going and explore new possibilities for yourself, even during uncertain times. Mel’s guest today, Kellie Gerardi, is here to give you the step-by-step process to building the life you want. Kellie is an astronaut and bioastronautics researcher who went from working coat check to leading research missions in space. And Kellie doesn’t just take you into space - she takes you into the real-life moments most people never talk about. She speaks about infertility, IVF, ambition, motherhood, and big dreams in a candid way you rarely hear discussed. Together, Mel and Kellie walk through 3 truths that will change how you show up to your life. In this episode, you’ll hear about: -How to keep going even during challenging times. -The question that changes everything: Why not me? -Why extraordinary things aren't reserved for extraordinary people. -You can become the person you want to be, but you have to act like it first. -Why hiding isn’t strength, it’s self-destruction. -Rules are made to be broken. -People will judge you no matter what you do. Let them. Whether you're going after a goal, discouraged in the face of setbacks, or just trying to get through the day, this episode will give you the motivation, courage, and tools you need. For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page: https://www.melrobbins.com/episode/episode-328/ Click here to get tickets to Mel's live tour, Let Them Tour 2026: https://www.melrobbins.com/the-let-them-tour/ Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode. In this episode: 00:00 Meet the Guest 6:03 Your Dreams Can Become Reality 10:00 How to Design Your Reputation 16:03 What Seeing Earth From Space Reveals About Life 25:44 How to Go After Big Goals Without Guilt 35:19 The Part of IVF No One Talks About 40:19 Holding Grief and Hope At The Same Time 45:06 Stop Believing You Have to Go Through Hard Times Alone 53:04 The 1 Question That Changes Everything — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com​ — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins​?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Mel RobbinshostKellie Gerardiguest
Sep 24, 20251h 7mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Astronaut Mom Reveals Blueprint For Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things

  1. Mel Robbins interviews astronaut and bioastronautics researcher Kelli Gerardi about how ‘ordinary’ people can deliberately make themselves capable of extraordinary things. Gerardi traces her journey from working coat check at the prestigious Explorers Club to flying scientific missions in microgravity and space, emphasizing reputation design, relentless mindset work, and proximity to your dreams.
  2. They discuss motherhood, criticism, IVF, and recurrent pregnancy loss, and how Gerardi chooses openness over secrecy to reduce shame and create support. Throughout, she shares practical mental frameworks—like “Why not me?”, removing self-imposed limiters, and treating failures as data—that help people build a bigger life even when they feel overloaded, exhausted, or uncertain.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

You can consciously ‘adjust the limiter’ on your imagination.

Gerardi argues that most limits are self-imposed: instead of assuming extraordinary lives are reserved for special people, intentionally zoom out your vision 30–100x and allow yourself to picture being in rooms, roles, and possibilities you currently believe are off-limits.

Design your reputation on purpose, starting with the job you have now.

In every role—even coat check—Gerardi writes down the adjectives she wants colleagues to use about her (e.g., thorough, reliable, professional) and then behaves in ways that make those traits undeniably true, creating a track record that attracts bigger opportunities.

Seek important work, not just glamorous work, and give 150%.

She credits her leap from coat check to chairing a major fundraising gala and later joining the Explorers Club board to treating ‘small’ tasks as critical, showing attention to detail and follow-through long before high-status roles appeared.

Use the question “Why not me?” as a quiet, disciplined confidence tool.

Rather than entitlement, she frames it as: if I work hard enough for long enough, why couldn’t I be the one? This mindset allows her to pursue multiple life quadrants—spaceflight, research, family, online storytelling—without prematurely choosing just one.

Separate guilt from regret when juggling family and ambition.

Gerardi and Robbins describe feeling momentary ‘mom guilt’ when leaving for work trips, but noticing they don’t actually regret pursuing their dreams; recognizing this distinction helps them honor kids’ feelings without self-sabotaging their own futures.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Ordinary people can make themselves capable of extraordinary things, and it is never too late for you to do that.

— Kelli Gerardi

You can rewrite your limits. The only one applying the limit on your imagination is you.

— Kelli Gerardi

You can design your own reputation if you put in the work to make it true.

— Kelli Gerardi

Sharing your struggles does not make you a burden to the people who care about you.

— Kelli Gerardi

I didn’t get lucky. I was just willing to fail more times than someone else was willing to try.

— Kelli Gerardi

Ordinary people cultivating the capacity for extraordinary achievementsDesigning your reputation and over-delivering in any roleMindset frameworks: adjusting your ‘limiter’ and asking “Why not me?”Balancing big ambitions with motherhood, guilt, and social criticismDealing with online judgment and using the “let them” theoryIVF, infertility, miscarriage, and the power of real-time transparencyReinvention, finding the next dream, and distinguishing what energizes vs. drains you

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